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I Want To Sell Stuff Off My Website. Do I Need A Special Kind Of Web Host?

Description: Are all web hosts the same? Not if you want to use your website to sell goods to people online. Read on to find out more.

For most people that have a personal website or a hobby website that just provides information for people, a standard web host with standard services will do the trick.

But if you are aiming to sell goods and services from your website you will need to make sure that you choose a web host that can provides the services you will require.

This kind of hosting is more commonly called ecommerce hosting, because it is specially designed to accommodate the fact that you will be accepting orders via your website.

An important part of this service is secure payment processing. If you don't have this the huge majority of people won't risk paying you for any goods in case their card details are put at risk. An ecommerce web host will provide an SSL (secure socket layer) certificate to prove that you will have a secure connection over which to take orders.

Many web hosts which offer this kind of package will throw a domain name in for free. You will also usually receive an increased amount of web space and bandwidth to cope with the increased amount of traffic you are likely to receive as an ecommerce website.

You will also need to ensure that your web host provides you with a shopping cart if you don't already have one. Most web hosts also make it easy to integrate the other main method of taking online payments apart from credit cards - and that's PayPal.

In short, a standard web hosting package won't cut the mustard if you are launching an online business. You might find you need to pay slightly more for an ecommerce hosting deal, but it probably won't be as much as you think - especially when you consider the extra features it will bring you, including security and peace of mind.